EN World EN5ider has launched! EN World EN5ider is the new way to get regular gaming articles and adventures online. For a small monthly donation, you will receive rules articles, gaming advice, adventures, and more. Collect EN World EN5ider articles and adventures designed and formatted to be filed in a binder.

[IRON DM] Winter '04 Tournament Underway!

OK, so I plan to run the tournament itself in this thread. I'll keep the sign-up thread open for now since we still need one more person - and might as well use it to arrange match-ups.

I'll re-post the rules below.

But I want to ask for soemthing a little different with the entries. I always ask you include your ingredients listed in it - but I am going to ask that you list them at the end with a little mini review of how they were used.

1) Twelve contestants will be chosen for this tournament. Two slots being reserved, the first 10 people to post after 12:30 pm in this thread saying they want to play.

2) Alternates are only used if a contestant is not available at the agreed time of post the ingredients (see below) and no other arrangement has been made with the contestant in question ahead of time. The judge reserves the right to choose an alternate if a chosen contestant’s schedule becomes too inconvenient to work around. Note: Alternates should not get their hopes up. I have seen an alternate used perhaps 3 times in all the IRON DM tournaments I have run, participated in or observed.

3) The judge determines who gets paired with who based on availability of the contestants and based on whatever factors he deems appropriate to use.

4) The ingredients consist of six items. Typically (but not limited to), one or two monsters (like bugbear and bulette), one or two persons (a mayor or a blind bard), a place (a grain mill or a haunted marsh), one or two things (like a wand of magic missiles or a sharpened spoon), and an abstract concept or event (fear or a birthday party).

5) The ingredients are then used to design an overview of an adventure. You should try to either give the items equal importance in the adventure, or ingenious and pertinent ways to incorporate into the adventure. You are free to add and create any other elements of the adventure, but the use of too much filler to bring unrelated objects together will likely lead a judgment against you.

6) The length of an entry varies. Anything from a detailed sidetrek to outline for a longer adventure is allowed. However, being too long and too specific can work against you as if you bore the judge you are likely to lose. Try to keep it below 2500 words. Do not worry about stat blocks. However, being too short and too vague can work against you as well, as leaving too many pertinent questions unanswered is a sign of a weak adventure. Note: Due to the extra number of match-ups in this tournament, I will be a lot stricter about length - You stand warned. The 2500 limit does no include the inclusion as a list/summary of the ingrdients and how they were used as a postscript to your entry.

7) The judge reserves the right to disqualify any entry due to poor formatting or atrocious spelling and/or grammar, which makes reading the entry too difficult to be worth it. You have to be pretty bad for this to happen, but you stand warned.

8) Contestants have 24 hours (based on the posting time) from when the ingredients are posted to post their entry. To be safe, you should simultaneously email the entry to the judge in question.

9) Once your entry is posted you may not edit it. Any editing is grounds for an immediate disqualification. If something is so terrible that is has to be fixed PM the judge about it. Remember to list your ingredients and who you are competing against at the top of your entry.

10) Obviously, one of the two contestants has to post first. We go by the honor system that the latter contestant will NOT read his competitor’s entry until AFTER he has posted his own.

11) Comments and questions are welcome from the peanut gallery, however, PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ON THE INGREDIENTS or give any kinds of suggestions until after both entries are posted and do not comment on the entries in any specific way until after judgment is posted.

12) An entry posted even one minute past the deadline is disqualified, unless the poster’s competitor is willing to let it slide, or the judge sees a reason for an extension to be called (boards going down, for example).

13) All judgments are final. Judgments are direct and honest and can often come off as harsh. Your scenario will be picked apart. Deal with it. It is part of the fun. If you do good you will also get gushing praise, but a poorly used ingredient will be pointed out like a gigantic glistening yellowed zit on your nose in home economics class.

14) Each round is single elimination, except the final round, where the three finalists will each get two matchs (one against each of the other two) to determine the finalist. The finalists will be provided with a single "special tie-breaking ingredient" which they may use in either their first or second match (but not both). In the case of a three-way tie, how this specific ingredient was handled will determine the winner.

15) In the final round, the judge may include up to 10 “bonus ingredients” in the ingredient list. The contestants may use as few or as many of these ingredients are they like. However, their use is only counted in the case of a needed tie-breaker (when the level of competition is very good or very bad ties are not all that uncommon). Please do note, that the use of a bonus ingredient can still be counted AGAINST you if you use it poorly even if there is not a tie-breaker situation, so choose carefully.

16) The winner of the third and final round is crowned “Iron DM” and he (or she) will be guaranteed a seat in the next IRON DM tournament.

Remember you 'ingredient review' at the end of your entry.
Remember, NO EDITING after you've posted.
Remember, NO READING your opponent's entry if he posts before you do.
Remember to include the the Round/Match and Opponent Info at the top of your entry (see above).

Remember you 'ingredient review' at the end of your entry.
Remember, NO EDITING after you've posted.
Remember, NO READING your opponent's entry if he posts before you do.
Remember to include the the Round/Match and Opponent Info at the top of your entry (see above).

------------"...if you stare long enough into the Abyss, the Abyss stares also into you." --Friedrich Nietzsche
------------

Important NPCs and Histories:

Vaarastia, a Succubus

Vaarastia's fate was sealed many centuries ago. A trickster herself, she should have been warier in choosing those she intended to seduce. But even those skilled at seduction make mistakes--and hers was a doozy. While terrorizing the small town of Haladan, she found herself unable to charm one particular peasant, and unable to get him to submit to her advances. Missing the obvious clues that this peasant might not be what he seemed, she pressed her advances, and was suddenly faced with Sorrin, a wizard of great stature and power--and one who was not averse to trickery himself, and was very unhappy with her destroying the men of his home. He placed a number of severe curses on her--some of them spells of his own devising--and Vaarastia was reduced to little more than a pool of acid. She was an intelligent pool of acid, but most of her former powers were gone, and she was unable to continue her reign of terror.

Dismayed and unable to do much more than crawl along the ground, Vaarastia made her way into a small cave, where she stayed, plotting what revenge she could...

Diardis, a Cleric of Chaos

Diardis followed no god. He did not believe in gods at all, and drew his clerical powers from Chaos itself. This did not make him popular, however; in fact, he was shunned by most of those in Haladan, despite being willing to heal them. He even studied arcane magic in the vein of the legendary Sorrin, hoping it would make his existence more palatable, but to no avail. The more he was shunned--and, in fact, persecuted--for his non-belief, the more afraid he became of people, and of the town square of Haladan, where he was routinely ridiculed. He eventually left the town entirely, forsaking the people he tried to help and leaving them to fend for themselves. He found a small cave some way outside Haladan, and intended to live as a hermit for the rest of his days, studying his magic. He rarely left the cave due to his ridicule-induced agoraphobia.

The other occupant of the same cave had a different idea for him, however. Vaarastia had been able to regain a small modicum of power in her acid-pool form, and was able to charm Diardis into believing she was a friend. She saw in him her revenge on the town of Haladan, and a way to return to her true form...

Morgh's tribe was large--too large, in fact, to continue being organized without becoming problematic. When he was first asked to lead several clans into the wilderness to found a new tribe of ogres, he felt honored to be asked to lead. He never realized the tribe's elders were attempting to rid themselves of some of the chaff.

Though Morgh's former tribesmen thought the new tribe would be likely to disappear rapidly, it turned out that the ogres they had sent away may not have been the strongest or smartest, but they were wily and hardy. They settled around a large statue of an ogre with dark red ruby eyes. The wisest among them guessed the idol had been there for centuries, or perhaps longer. Morgh, seeing the ogre statue, felt it would be a very good place to start his new tribe. He named the new tribe "Red-Eye" after the statue, not knowing what role the statue would eventually play in his life...

(Brief stats: Ogre Bbn6, CE alignment, low Wisdom. The Red-Eye tribe should consist of 50 or so ogres with 1-3 Bbn levels, as well as a couple of clerics.)

Minor NPCs:

Cortan, head Magistrate of Haladan (Human Ari7, NG alignment)
Sorrin, a very powerful wizard (Wiz23/Acm5), long since deceased

Recent History:

The city of Haladan has recently been subject to horrific raids by a tribe of ogres wearing armor bearing two deep red eyes. They have routinely breached the city's defenses and slaughtered innocents, though they never seem to go for complete slaughter, generally taking but one body each. The magistrates of Haladan have repeatedly asked for help from the local count, but no such help has been forthcoming.

The ogres themselves have been under orders--as far as they know--from their god. The statue near which they have settled their tribe began speaking to their leader, Morgh, about a year ago, when its ruby eyes started glowing brightly. They do not know it, but Diardis is actually sending them messages through the idol, using them to do the bidding of his own master, Vaarastia. The ogres leave the slaughtered bodies of the innocents near his cave, as directed, and he is using their parts as material for a very powerful summoning circle--one which will unbind Vaarastia from her pool and unleash her first on Diardis, and then on the city of Haladan.

Possible Hooks:

The PCs, in their travels, come to the city of Haladan during its time of despair, and are asked by the magistrates to give aid to the city.

The PCs, staying in Haladan, are party to the very first attack by the ogres. One of the NPCs travelling with them is killed, her body taken to be part of the summoning circle. They plot revenge against the ogres, only to find there is more to the problem.

For those DMs who like evil monstrous PCs: The PCs are members of Morgh's tribe--particularly wise members who are able, after a while, to see through Diardis's illusions, and wonder why their leader is following this illusion. This would make for a shorter adventure, almost a side-adventure, but one that could lead to a party of ogre PCs adventuring together.

Plot Outline:

I. The City of Haladan

Depending on when they arrive in the city, the PCs will find it normal, and only see it in its deteriorated state after the first couple of battles versus the ogres; or they will arrive with the city guard already running ragged and citizens already slaughtered. The head magistrate, Cortan, will plead with the PCs, who at mid-levels should be quite powerful compared to the general populace, to help them in their fight against the ogres. The PCs should be able to get the following information through either Gather Information or Diplomacy checks, or general sleuthing:

There was a godless cleric who left the city some five years ago, but no one knows where he went, and frankly they didn't care that much.

The last time so many were left dead was during a succubus's reign of terror over 300 years earlier. Sorrin, a wizard whose name is legend, destroyed the succubus.

The large abandoned tower to the south of the town was long ago Sorrin's tower; it has long since been gutted, and is mostly in ruins. (If the PCs investigate the ruins, they should find suitable minor treasure and perhaps some random encounters. If they spend large amounts of time searching, the DM may let them find the Sorrin's journal, which will recount his tale of the succubus attacks on Haladan, and his leaving the succubus as a pool of acid.)

The ogres have not been killing large numbers of people, even though their hordes certainly should be able to. Rather, they seem to be taking several individuals and killing them, then leaving. They never leave the bodies behind, which the citizenry find distressing, as they would like to bury their dead.

II. Morgh's Ogres

The ogre tribe should be created so as to pose a significant, but not overly formidable, challenge to the PCs. If the PCs invade the ogres' encampment, they should eventually overpower the ogres. Morgh, seeing his new tribe about to go up in smoke, will plead for his tribe's lives. The PCs may be also able to kill entire raiding parties in Haladan if they wait for the raids, and if they do so will eventually be confronted by Morgh, a bit scared, who will come to the city wondering why his brethren have fallen. Either way, Morgh will be at least superficially penitent--he does not want to die himself--and will give the PCs whatever information they wish. Specifically, he will tell them that he has simply been taking orders from his god, and will lead the PCs to the Red-Eye idol.

If the PCs kill Morgh and his entire tribe, or if Morgh leads them to the idol, the idol--that is, Diardis using major image to bring the idol to life--will speak to them, telling them that the sacrifices have been sufficient, and that their service to their god is released. The illusion is unlikely to fool all but the least wise (or unluckiest) mid-level PCs (DC 15). If the PCs ask Morgh, they will show him where he and his tribe have been leaving the bodies; likewise, if the PCs attempt to Track, they will notice a trail leading from the encampment in the opposite direction from the city. Following these will lead them to Diardis's cave.

If Morgh is captured and not killed, he may also try to tell his own story--which, while not part of this adventure, may someday lead the PCs in the direction of his old tribe.

III. The Abyss Stares Also Into You

Diardis's cave is sparsely furnished, and typical of what you might expect from a hermit. A few things are very noticeable. First is the dead bodies piled up outside the entrance: headless (and if any of the PCs examine them closely, heartless) bodies in a rather foul-smelling pile. The heads and hearts are inside the cave, forming another noticeable feature: the large summoning circle which sits right next to an acid pool. (The pool, in fact, seems to be dissolving one of the hearts.) Before reaching the inner part of the cave, the PCs will hear Diardis chanting. A Spellcraft roll (at DC 30 because of the lack of visual cues) will indicate that Diardis is chanting a summoning spell of some sort.

When the PCs enter the cave, Diardis will be momentarily shocked by the intrusion, giving the PCs one or two rounds to reason with, or attack, the priest while he is flat-footed. Diardis will then open with a barrage of offensive spells--and possibly some offensive language. PCs should make a Listen check (DC 20) to notice that there's another presence here--in this case, Vaarastia, telling Diardis to "Kill them!" and to "Finish the spell, fool!" A Spot check (DC 20) made immediately after a successful Listen check will clue the successful PC that the sound is coming from the pool of acid. Any PC gazing into or examining the pool of acid must make a DC 23 Will save, or be charmed by Vaarastia.

Diardis will surrender when he realizes he cannot beat the PCs. He will be reluctant to tell his story without successful Diplomacy checks. If he is convinced to do so, he will tell of his ridicule at the hands of the people of Haladan. Vaarastia will not let him tell too much before she begins seriously egging him on. "Finish it!" Diardis will jump to her commands, and will prepare to finish the summoning.

IV. Endgame

The PCs may try to kill Diardis at this point, effectively ending the summoning. Particularly good-aligned parties, or particularly astute parties, will notice something odd about the way Diardis moves--as if he were a marionette, almost (Wis check, DC 15). Casting break enchantment or remove curse on the cleric will free Diardis from Vaarastia's enchantments long enough to get him out of the cave.

If Diardis lasts two rounds at the summoning circle, the acid pool disappears, suddenly replaced by Vaarastia in her natural form. She will immediately jump at and kiss Diardis, after which she will attempt to flee from the party.

If Diardis is killed, or if Vaarastia's enchantment is successfully removed, or if he is bodily removed from the cave by a burly PC with a high grapple check, then the summoning will remain incomplete. Vaarastia will plead with the PCs to let her be summoned into her natural form, but if the PCs avoid gazing into the pool, they will not feel any compulsion to do so, whether they could or not. If the summoning circle is broken or Diardis killed, the spell will immediately end.

Vaarastia will shout curses and unprintables at the party if they leave her in her acid pool form, but will be unable to back it up without charming any of them.

If the PCs rescue Diardis from Vaarastia, they will likely wish to take him back to Haladan, but he will protest due to his agoraphobia. He is truly afraid of the people, and of the town square where he often had rocks thrown at him. If the PCs are feeling especially helpful, they may wish to try to cure him. A casting of remove fear while he is in the town square will help, and after barely escaping from Vaarastia, he may be willing to atone for what he's done to the city. Whether he flip-flops on his beliefs--and whether the townspeopleare willing to accept a godless priest--is best left to the DM's discretion.

------------

Review of Ingredients:

Demon Summoning Circle: Built partially of recently-dead citizens of Haladan, it is particularly powerful; Vaarastia plans for Diardis to use it to summon her out of her acid pool.

Chaotic Priest: Diardis is a Cleric of Chaos, specifically believing not in the gods but in the power of Chaos itself.

Ruby-Eyed Idol: Morgh's tribe settled by this statue, little thinking that Diardis would use it to give Morgh and his tribe commands.

Pool of Acid: Vaarastia was transformed into a pool of acid by a powerful wizard she attempted to seduce about 350 years ago.

Agoraphobia: Diardis's godless ways led to public ridicule, which led to agoraphobia and a general distaste of people. His tenure in the cave and relationship with Vaarastia has served to reinforce it. The PCs may have a chance to cure him of it.

Ogre Tribe: Morgh's original tribe sent him and many others away--ostensibly to form a new tribe, but in reality to die. However, his tribe survived, and are used as pawns by Diardis and Vaarastia.

Remember you 'ingredient review' at the end of your entry.
Remember, NO EDITING after you've posted.
Remember, NO READING your opponent's entry if he posts before you do.
Remember to include the the Round/Match and Opponent Info at the top of your entry (see above).